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United States Soccer League System

The professional soccer clubs of the United States and Canadian teams playing in U.S. leagues (2017).

The United States soccer league system is a series of professional and amateur soccer leagues based, in whole or in part, in the United States. Sometimes called the American soccer pyramid, teams and leagues in the United States are not linked by the system of promotion and relegation typical in soccer elsewhere. Instead, U.S. Soccer (USSF) officially defines leagues in levels, called divisions, with the top three sanctioned directly by the USSF.

Limited forms of promotion and relegation have existed in the past; for example, the United Soccer Leagues previously ran multiple sanctioned leagues, between which teams could voluntarily move, although this was largely unused. Several franchises had been voluntarily relegated from the First Division to the Second, and occasionally from the professional ranks to the PDL, usually to reduce operating costs or to re-structure the organization of the franchise in question. Similarly, some franchises have been given the opportunity to move up to a higher level having found success in the lower divisions--most recently USL2 champions Cleveland City Stars moving to USL1 in 2009--but this was not a regular occurrence. Automatic relegation between the two leagues, as exists in many other national league systems, was considered by the USL, but was never implemented.[2]

Some amateur leagues sanctioned by the USASA also use promotion and relegation systems within multiple levels of their leagues. However, there has never been a merit-based promotion system offered to the USASA's "national" leagues, the NPSL and the PDL.

Men

In the United States, professional men's outdoor soccer leagues are ranked by the United States Soccer Federation into one of three divisions: Division I, Division II, and Division III.[3] Amateur soccer organizations are also recognized by the USSF, but individual amateur leagues are not.[4] The only adult amateur soccer organization currently recognized by U.S. Soccer is the USASA, although several other leagues operate independently under the USASA umbrella.

Professional

The standards for division I, II and III leagues are set by the USSF. [6]

Since 1996, Major League Soccer (MLS) has been the only sanctioned USSF Division I men's outdoor soccer league in the United States. MLS has grown from 10 teams in 1996 to 23 teams as of the 2018 season.

The United Soccer League (USL) is the only sanctioned Division II men's outdoor soccer league as of 2018. The USL, formed as a result of the merger of the former USL First Division and USL Second Division, was sanctioned as Division III league from 2011 to 2016. USL was also provisionally sanctioned as a Division II league for 2017,[7] and received full Division II sanctioning in 2018 on a year-to-year basis.[8] USL is divided into two conferences, East and West, to reduce travel costs for its teams and has minimal inter-conference games. The conference champions then meet in a single match to determine the league champion.

The previously Division II North American Soccer League (NASL) was formed in 2009, but did not debut until 2011 following the controversial 2010 season which saw neither the USL First Division nor the NASL receive Division II sanctioning from the USSF, resulting in the temporary USSF Division 2 Pro League. NASL was sanctioned as a Division II league in 2011 until 2016 when it fielded 8 teams for the 2017 season, causing U.S. Soccer to only grant the league provisional sanctioning as it fell under the 12 team requirement.[9] However, the USSF rejected the NASL's application to maintain provisional Division II status for the 2018 season as the NASL did not present a plan[10] on how it would meet the Division II criteria.[11] In response, the NASL filed "a federal antitrust suit against the U.S. Soccer Federation"[12] in an attempt to force USSF to drop all Division designations. Due to the continuing litigation against U.S. Soccer, the NASL then had to postpone its season to August 2018 and lost four more teams in the process.

There are currently no sanctioned Division III leagues. Two leagues have indicated that they will seek Division III status. United Soccer Leagues, administrator of the USL and PDL leagues, announced that they would start a new league, tentatively called D3, and seek Division III certification and targeting 2019 as the first season for the new league.[13] National Independent Soccer Association (NISA) led by former Chicago Fire general manager Peter Wilt plans on fielding 8 to 10 teams in 2018 and has stated that it will seek Division III certification.[14]

In September 2015, it was reported that the USSF was proposing the addition of eligibility requirements for sanctioned Division I soccer leagues, including that they must have at least 16 teams, stadiums with a capacity of at least 15,000, and at least 75% of the teams must be in cities that have a population of at least 2 million.[15]

^Teams with players receiving salary (professional teams) that played in leagues not sanctioned as Division I, II, or III by USSF.

^American Professional Soccer League changed their name to A-League and gained official Division II sanctioning this year.

^The USISL Professional League included 70 teams of which 36 were Amateur teams. Not included as the league did not yet have Division III sanctioning.

^USISL divided into 2 Division. USISL Select League had 21 teams and was shared status of Division II sanctioning together the A-League. The USISL Pro League had 27 teams and was status of Division III.

^A-League merged with USISL and teams from USISL Select League became part of the A-League. The merger avoided competing Division II leagues.

^MLS sponsored a Reserve League with players from MLS teams that are not on the active roster from 2005-2008 & 2011-2013.

^Due to the conflict resulting from the sale of United Soccer Leagues by Nike, USSF organized this league which had teams from the First Division of United Soccer Leagues and the newly formed North American Soccer League.

Amateur

The USSF does not officially recognize distinctions between amateur soccer leagues in the United States. However, the USASA sanctions affiliated, but separately run, national leagues that are recognized in practical terms as playing at a higher level than the USASA state association leagues; for example, as of 2014 they receive automatic berths to the US Open Cup.[]

The Premier Development League takes place during the summer months, and the player pool is drawn mainly from NCAAcollege soccer players seeking to continue playing high level soccer during their summer break, while still maintaining their college eligibility.[17] The National Premier Soccer League is similar to the Premier Development League and also attracts top amateur talent from around the United States. However, unlike the PDL the NPSL does not have any age limits or restrictions, thus incorporating both college players and former professional players.[]

^Tier/Division numbers are omitted for these leagues as U.S. Soccer does not designate a Division number or directly sanction them. The leagues are generally ordered by quality of play from top to bottom.[] Currently there is no relegation/promotion among any of these leagues.

Men's national soccer cups

Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup -- open to all USSF-sanctioned amateur and professional leagues, though professional teams that are owned by, or whose playing staffs are managed by, higher-level outdoor professional teams are barred from entry

While there was never official distinction between the national amateur leagues, it was commonly assumed that the W-League was a higher quality than WPSL. Two W-League teams had effectively promoted into the first division - the Buffalo Flash becoming the Western New York Flash in 2011 and D.C. United Women becoming the Washington Spirit in 2013 - while no WPSL teams have ever done so. UWS, as W-League's spiritual successor, has strengthened this image of being the higher-quality amateur league by attracting four teams that had been associated with WPSL Elite.

^U.S. Soccer has been heavily involved in the creation and operation of the NWSL; however, it did not initially refer to the new league as a sanctioned Division 1 league.[26] U.S. Soccer has now officially labeled NWSL as a Division 1 Professional league, and has added the league to its Professional Council.[27]

^ abThe tiers or levels here are approximate and not specifically so designated by USSF.